Yesterday, the Obama administration announced it will support a ban on conversion therapy for LGBT minors. The controversial therapy purports to change an individual’s sexual orientation or gender identity, although there’s no scientific basis to support the practice. Read more

Marriage equality is on the march in the United States. The U.S. Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in a case later this month that could extend same-sex marriage nationwide as early as the end of June.

Religious Right groups are in full-blown panic. They know they are likely running out of options to stem the marriage tide, and one of their few remaining ploys is to create hysteria with absurdist arguments that the legalization of same-sex marriage will result in war – and they mean that literally. Read more

Election season is still in its early stages, but eyes are already on Iowa. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) have already declared their candidacy for the presidency; Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), Louisiana’s Gov. Bobby Jindal and former Florida governor Jeb Bush are also expected to declare shortly to compete for the GOP nomination. (And let’s not forget Ben Carson, another favorite of social conservatives.) Read more

The Religious Right loves a good sob story, and it seems to have found a great one courtesy of a Missouri courthouse clerk who fears she may soon be required to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples. Read more

Last week I taped an interview with Sister Maureen Fielder, host of “Interfaith Voices,” a popular radio program exploring religious issues that is carried by many NPR stations.

The topic of the show was Indiana’s new “religious freedom” law, and appearing with me was Mollie Ziegler Hemingway, senior editor at The Federalist, a libertarian journal. We had a spirited but thoughtful discussion. Read more

A Michigan city that decided to stop displaying a large cross on a publicly owned hill in response to a complaint by Americans United is now facing a lawsuit from some residents who want to put the cross back up. Read more

Legislators in Indiana have proposed a fix to their controversial “religious freedom” bill (RFRA), and it’s certainly a step forward for LGBT rights. The amendment, which still awaits approval from Governor Mike Pence, would prevent small businesses from using the RFRA to discriminate in many ways. Read more

An Arizona state senator who is concerned about the level or morality in modern-day America thinks she has a solution: Everyone should be forced to go to church.

Yes, this was an actual suggestion courtesy of Sen. Sylvia Allen (R-Snowflake). During a recent hearing on whether or not people should be able to carry concealed weapons into public buildings, she claimed that guns are necessary even in government offices because America is so morally bankrupt. Read more

It’s unconstitutional for faith-based organizations (FBOs) to proselytize using public funds, but some FBOs manage to circumvent these rulings by conducting their evangelistic charity projects overseas. In a recent article for Firstpost, an Indian website, Rupa Subramanya argues that this may begin to strain foreign relations, just as it strains the boundaries of constitutional law.Read more

Last week, Americans United wrote to John Koskinen, commissioner of the Internal Revenue Service, and told him that it’s high time he began enforcing the law prohibiting partisan politicking by houses of worship and other tax-exempt entities. Read more